look after the cafe for a couple of hours, wrapped up my head, and
walked out there to the other end of the town. . . . Look at these two
sitting up! And I thought they were so sleepy and tired, the poor
fellows!"

She kept our curiosity in suspense for a moment.

"Well, I have seen your marvel, Dominic," she continued in a calm voice.
"She came flying out of the gate on horseback and it would have been all
I would have seen of her if--and this is for you, Signorino--if she
hadn't pulled up in the main alley to wait for a very good-looking
cavalier. He had his moustaches so, and his teeth were very white when
he smiled at her. But his eyes are too deep in his head for my taste. I
didn't like it. It reminded me of a certain very severe priest who used
to come to our village when I was young; younger even than your marvel,
Dominic."

"It was no priest in disguise, Madame Leonore," I said, amused by her
expression of disgust. "That's an American."

"Ah! _Un Americano_! Well, never mind him. It was her that I went to
see."

"What! Walked to the other end of the town to see Dona Rita!" Dominic
addressed her in a low bantering tone. "Why, you were always telling me
you couldn't walk further than the end of the quay to save your life--or
even mine, you said."

"Well, I did; and I walked back again and between the two walks I had a
good look. And you may be sure--that will surprise you both--that on the
way back--oh, Santa Madre, wasn't it a long way, too--I wasn't thinking
of any man at sea or on shore in that connection."

"No. And you were not thinking of yourself, either, I suppose," I said.
Speaking was a matter of great effort for me, whether I was too tired or
too sleepy, I can't tell. "No, you were not thinking of yourself. You
were thinking of a woman, though."

"_Si_. As much a woman as any of us that ever breathed in the world.
Yes, of her! Of that very one! You see, we woman are not like you men,
indifferent to each other unless by some exception. Men say we are
always against one another but that's only men's conceit. What can she
be to me? I am not afraid of the big child here," and she tapped
Dominic's forearm on which he rested his head with a fascinated stare.
"With us two it is for life and death, and I am rather pleased that there
is something yet in him that can catch fire on occasion. I would have
thought less of him if he hadn't been able to get out of hand a little,
for so